Project that features affordable housing, artist studios approved for Condor Street in East Boston

The Zoning Board of Appeal yesterday approved plans to convert a vacant lot on Condor Street between Brooks and Putnam into 33 apartments and 7 condos - and artist studios that open onto the street - in a two-building complex to be called Aileron, on vacant land long owned by the city.

Of the apartments, 24 will be rented as affordable, while 4 of the 7 condos will be sold that way as well, under the plans filed by the non-profit Neighborhood of Affordable Housing (NOAH).

Artists will have first dibs on 17 of the apartments, which will come with associated private studios. The ground floor of the building will have larger, shared studio space as well as a work bar/gallery and an artist workshop - NOAH says it hopes the spaces will become home to art classes, exhibits, concerts and other events year round. Also planned is a sculpture garden.

The larger of the two buildings will be five stories and will house all the apartments and artist studios, as well as a workbar/gallery and an artist workshop. The condos will be in the second, four-story building.

The project will have 35 parking spaces in a garage.

At the hearing, a NOAH official said the group hopes to work with the BPDA - which approved the project in March - on guidelines for selecting artists to rent the studio spaces.

Aileron small-project review application (21M PDF).
Project renderings and maps (3.2M PDF).